Design Psychology — Reflections.

We see to believe.

Or do we?

Our brain might be the single most complex thing in creation. We have come far — from creating stone axes and picks to quantum computers capable of solving for theoretical entanglement and superposition. Yet, we still do not understand exactly how it works, but we’ve figured out one thing — how to manipulate it and make it do what we want.

We’ve tested the waters time and time again, tested our limits and pushed our understandings of why the brain does what it does — and how to do it in other ways. We’ve learned to subconsciously manipulate — to subvert and lead on — to conjure images, thoughts, feelings and dreams with little to nothing. In all this, design plays a damning hand. Simply changing the order of appearance of a design can shift it’s entire context — its entire meaning, its entire mental model.

Every design we make has far reaching impact — things that might not seem important or that seem implausible — may happen. Our mental models have become so solidified through our existing interactions that we have to be ever so careful when treading around design decisions so as to not break that flow — but should we? Perhaps it is time to break away from what is already established to instead build something better — to design is to change, is it not? Perhaps it is time to pick up our roots and build a new, better mindset of interaction.